Abi Salami’s work boldly explores the beauty and essence of black womanhood while promoting positive mental health. Informed by her own experiences and those of loved ones, she aims to normalize “Black Joy” by creating art that softly and tenderly re-injects humanity back into Blackness. In addition, her work vehemently campaigns for the need to place as much emphasis on healthy brains as we do to healthy bodies, especially within Black/African communities.

Born in Lagos, Nigeria, and based in Dallas, Texas, Salami earned an MPA in Accounting from the University of Texas at Austin and worked in corporate America for almost a decade before committing to painting full-time.

Since then, Salami has gone on to exhibiting in Dallas and across the United States including at The Women’s Museum, the African American Museum of Art in Dallas, and Viridian Artists Inc in New York City.

Salami has been selected for the Jardin Rouge art residency with Montresso Art Foundation in the early summer of 2021. One of the pieces created during the residency will be included in an exhibition titled BLACK/ness at 1:54 Contemporary Art Fair and curated by artist Dr Fahamu Pecou.

She was selected as a candidate of the Saatchi Art 2020 Rising Stars under 35 Class and a 2021 New Voices Top 100 Artists. Her work has been featured on the Washington Post, NBC5 News, FOX16 Morning News, Artsy, D Magazine and Voyage Magazine.